homeschool, honestly : a quick note

One homeschool-mama who significantly inspires me is Ann Voskamp. I mean, she inspires several (million) people, and I am one of them. A few years ago I read this blog post by her and she filled my soul with vision for what our home+school could be like.

She is a homeschool-mama and this year, for her “first day” Instagram post, she included a “happy mama manifesto” that as soon as I could, I copied and pasted and printed and slipped into the front clear part of my homeschool planner-binder.

I wanted to tag each and every mama-friend of mine, homeschooling or not, because the manifesto is for every one of them out there (all the billion of them).

I decided it might be better to share the manifesto-document on my blog – so here it is. Enjoy! (maybe you’ll print it too!)

Happy Mama Manifesto:
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1. Today, even if everything goes wrong, love is always right. There is ridiculous hope in this.
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2. Today, the only thing that has to be written in stone is when to pray. We will just pray at set times & make our home a house of prayer. What else really matters?
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3. Today, there are no emergencies. Life is a GIFT — not an emergency! Only amateurs hurry. So: Say yes to one game every day and laugh loud. No empty-nest mama looks around and wishes she did one more load of laundry.
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4. Today, when stress mounts, I pray to dismount it with gratitude. My stress management plan will be simple: all stress will have an intervention of giving thanks for one thing out loud. I can only feel one feeling at a time, and I choose to give thanks at all times.
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5. Today, I will pray to speak words that make souls stronger. Grace is the only non-toxic air.
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6. Today, I will pray to just be: Consistently consistent. Make rhythms, live routines, wear good habits. Do the same thing at the same time every day — and you kinda change your life.
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7. Today, THIS: The moment when I am most repelled by a child’s behavior, that is my sign to draw the very closest to that child.
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8. Today, I will hug each of my children as many times as I serve them meals — because children’s hearts feed on touch. I’ll look for as many opportunities to touch my children today as possible — the taller they are, the more so.
Whenever I want to throw hands up, I’ll throw them around someone instead. Holding someone always helps holds things together.
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9. Love is a roof.

Be a shelter, a safe place, just be a roof for your people today.
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10. Today, I will laugh! And I will create a culture of JOY! The only life worth living is a scandalous one: scandalous love, offensive mercy, foolish faith. Let joy live loud in your soul.
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PS I am currently, finally reading her book, The Broken Way: A Daring Path into the Abundant Life, and I have only just begun. Friends, and even my sister, have recommended it to me, and the other day I decided it was time to read it. If you’d like, we can read it together. Just let me know you want to! ❤